Which economy 7 type tariff for EV charging?

[GarethC]

We finally took the plunge and bought a Model 3 long range with 50k miles on it. It's already managed to get us from Edinburgh to Brittany, and we're delighted with it. Only issue I've had is I can't get the tow hitch to engage properly.

I've yet to switch to a cheap overnight tariff for charging. Is it just me, or am I right that availability of these is poor right now? Can anyone recommend one? Greatly appreciate any assistance.

[NikoV6]

Octopus Intelligent for us, 6 hours of overnight 10p a kW.

With a battery which you can also charge you can be pretty much cheap rate all day (depending on your personal usage!)

Congrats on your Model 3, welcome to the Tesla fold!!

[Stinsy]

We finally took the plunge and bought a Model 3 long range with 50k miles on it. It's already managed to get us from Edinburgh to Brittany, and we're delighted with it. Only issue I've had is I can't get the tow hitch to engage properly.

I've yet to switch to a cheap overnight tariff for charging. Is it just me, or am I right that availability of these is poor right now? Can anyone recommend one? Greatly appreciate any assistance.

There has been a journey WRT ToU tariffs. I’ll try to summarise:

- Back in the days of coal, power stations worked best run flat out 24/7/365. Ecconomy7 was created in this environment to encourage off-peak usage.
- We moved from coal to “environmentally friendly” gas (I know) for power generation. These power stations are great at adjusting generation to match demand, so the value of ToU tariffs disappeared. Storage heaters don’t make sense when cheap rate electric is half of peak, and peak is more expensive than a flat rate.
- Along came renewables and we have wind turbines spinning irrespective of demand. Legacy electricity companies kept the Ecconomy7 prices sky-high (screwing over old grannies seems to be a national pastime) even though the wholesale price was often negative overnight.
- Octopus filled the gap with some spectacular ToU tariffs. “Go” offered 4hrs of 5p/kWh and “Agile” split the day into 30-min slots all priced according to wholesale prices including negative prices when that reflected the market.
- Then Putin rolled his tanks into Ukraine. Nowadays “Intelligent” is the best ToU tariff. 10p/kWh for a minimum of 6-hrs and 40p/kWh the rest of the time. But you need a compatible car or charging point.

[AGT]

I’m on the other octopus cheap night slot. 12:30 to 04:30
I don’t meet the criteria for the other one, but with the help of the forum I’ve still managed to get 20kWh of charging done every night( not the car, car that at work)

[nowty]

We finally took the plunge and bought a Model 3 long range with 50k miles on it.

Thats a secret list entry.

Another 75kWh of storage capacity.

[Yuff]

We finally took the plunge and bought a Model 3 long range with 50k miles on it. It's already managed to get us from Edinburgh to Brittany, and we're delighted with it. Only issue I've had is I can't get the tow hitch to engage properly.

I've yet to switch to a cheap overnight tariff for charging. Is it just me, or am I right that availability of these is poor right now? Can anyone recommend one? Greatly appreciate any assistance.

There has been a journey WRT ToU tariffs. I’ll try to summarise:

- Back in the days of coal, power stations worked best run flat out 24/7/365. Ecconomy7 was created in this environment to encourage off-peak usage.
- We moved from coal to “environmentally friendly” gas (I know) for power generation. These power stations are great at adjusting generation to match demand, so the value of ToU tariffs disappeared. Storage heaters don’t make sense when cheap rate electric is half of peak, and peak is more expensive than a flat rate.
- Along came renewables and we have wind turbines spinning irrespective of demand. Legacy electricity companies kept the Ecconomy7 prices sky-high (screwing over old grannies seems to be a national pastime) even though the wholesale price was often negative overnight.
- Octopus filled the gap with some spectacular ToU tariffs. “Go” offered 4hrs of 5p/kWh and “Agile” split the day into 30-min slots all priced according to wholesale prices including negative prices when that reflected the market.
- Then Putin rolled his tanks into Ukraine. Nowadays “Intelligent” is the best ToU tariff. 10p/kWh for a minimum of 6-hrs and 40p/kWh the rest of the time. But you need a compatible car or charging point.

Excellent summary.
Hopefully ToU tariffs will start dropping back when Ofgem announce their rates next month.
Although perhaps the old IO 7.5p tariff is too cheap maybe

[nowty]

The cheap rate of octopus Go has always been around the price of gas and usually slightly above it.

Like when it was 5p, gas price was around 3.5p.
Then 7.5p and gas was around the same.
Now 12p and gas is around 10p.

Gas is likely to drop to around 7.5p in July so Go cheapslot might drop back to 10p.

Eco 7 is a regulated tariff and based on a standard % split between cheap and peak rate for the standard bill size. Suppliers can change the split to match their own customer base. So as more folk get batteries / EVs and use more cheap rate the regulated cheap rate will rise and the peak rate will drop.

In the future there is likely to be more on demand tariffs similar to agile or managed though something similar to the saving sessions as an add on to a standard TOU tariff. So if its really windy you might get a rebate if you splurge, similar the the Octopus Power Hour trial which gave you a free hour of power now and again.

[GarethC]

Thanks so much all. Hadn't gotten around to installing proper charging point, so will get on that, then get onto Octopus. Thanks again!

[Sunrisemike]

My son has just switched to Ovo at 10p, charge any time. He says that his tariff is 10 p for all use, which I can't believe. It says 51p on a search. I will be interested to see if this is just for a limited time and whether he is correct with his information.

Mike

[dan_b]

I'm sure all of us here on Octopus would like to offer you a referral code to get £50 of free credit when you switch...! I know I would!